Radi0Kit 180 English Ver2.0
Radi0Kit 180 English Ver2.0
Radi0Kit 180 English Ver2.0
80 CW HAM RADIO
TRANSCEIVER KIT
Ver: 2.0
www.freebytes.com
Thank you for buying RadiKit-1, a ham radio CW transceiver for the 80M
(RadiKit-180) or the 40M band (RadiKit-140).
RadiKit-1 is part of a series of electronic kits that we offer not only to radio
amateurs who want to discover the joy of building their own equipment, but
also to all the electronics DIY enthusiasts who like to construct various devices
for everyday use or just for the fun of it.
The kit is based on the famous Pixie transceiver introduced many years ago.
The design was improved over the years and still catches the interest of many
radio amateurs over the world due to it's simplicity, satisfying performance and
ease of construction.
RadiKit-1 incorporates additions and improvements that we will discuss later
on. The circuit board is constructed by FR-4 material, the placement of the
components is silk screened on the top side. All the copper traces on the
bottom side are solder masked to prevent short circuits and accidental bridging
between conductors. All component holes are already drilled. There are also
four drilled holes for placing the board inside a box using appropriate screws
and spacers. The components that are used for RadiKit-1 are of the highest
quality. All the resistors are metal film 1% type. The capacitors are of the
MLCC type except for the electrolytic ones that are mini sized 85C types. The
inductors used are resistor type and provide high performance and minimum
space usage. The famous 2N2222A and 2N2219 transistors are used in order
to achieve a little bit more output power.
DC voltage is applied by a 9 Volt battery (not included) or a 9V to 12V power
supply (not included) and the output RF power produced can reach or exceed
500mW depending on the voltage applied. You only need to connect the
battery, a Morse key, an earphone or small speaker and an appropriate
antenna to have a fully working ham radio transceiver. RadiKit-1 comes in
two flavors. One for the 80M CW radio amateur band and one for the 40M
band.
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
OSCILLATOR
The main oscillator of RadiKit-1 is a classic colpitts circuit and is comprised by
the components 1, R1, R2, C1, C2, C3, C12 and the crystal (XTAL) for either
80m or 40m band (one of the two crystals is supplied according to the model).
R1 is used only when the power is applied to kickstart the oscillations. C1 and
C2 are a capacitive voltage divider and provide positive feedback from the
emitter of T1 back to it's base. The crystal behaves like an inductor and sets
the frequency of oscillation which can be slightly altered by C12. R2 is the load
resistor of the oscillator and sets it's output impedance. It also provides a
small amount of negative feedback at the emitter of T1 making the operation
of the oscillator more stable. The oscillator is active during both reception and
transmission of the transceiver. C3 is used to couple the output of the oscillator
to the base of T2 which functions as an amplifier during transmit and as a
mixer during reception.
AMPLIFIER/MIXER
During transmit the RF power delivered by the oscillator is amplified by T2 and
delivered to the antenna through a band pass filter. During receive the signal
received by the antenna is applied at the collector of T2 through the same
band pass filter. This signal is mixed with the oscillator signal applied to the
base of the same transistor and the audible difference/sum between the two
signals is taken from the emitter and applied to the input of the audio amplifier
chip IC1. R3 and R4 form a voltage divider that biases the base-emitter
junction of T2 during receive. L2 acts as an RF choke that has a high
impedance at the operating frequency but remains a short circuit for DC
voltage. This ensures that Q2 is turned off during transmit until a signal is
injected via capacitor C3. The positive half of the oscillator signal causes the
base-emitter junction of T2 to conduct while the negative half of the signal
allows T2 to turn off. Thus T2 is operating in Class C. L1 acts also as an RF
Choke and serves as the collector load of T2 during transmit. C4 is placed in
the circuit to ensure that any interference inserted in the circuit from the
keying line during receive is shorted to the ground. During transmit C4 and R4
are shorted to the ground.
FILTER
C5 drives the amplified signal during transmit to the bandpass filter comprising
of C6, C7, C13, L3, L4 and L5. The use of a band pass filter instead of a low
pass one not only suppresses the harmonics during transmit but also rejects
interference from the MW band during reception, something that was very
noticeable when we did our initial tests.
AUDIO AMPLIFIER
The detected audio from the emitter of T2 is delivered to the inverting input of
IC1 through capacitor C8. Power is delivered to IC1 by R5 while C10 is used to
suppress any noise introduced by the power line. C9 sets the amount of
voltage gain of IC1 thus controlling the audio amplification and C11 is used to
deliver the amplified audio to a small speaker or earphone. D1 grounds during
transmit pin 7 of IC1 thus muting any audio coming out of the speaker during
transmit.
KEYING
When the transceiver is keyed R4 and C4 are grounded so T2 is operating as a
class C amplifier and the oscillator's output is amplified and delivered to the
antenna through the band pass filter. In the same time D1's anode is grounded
and IC1 is muted so no audio is coming out of the speaker.
INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTIONS
A 9V clip is provided for connecting a 9V battery at the VIN(+) and VIN(-)
pins. The red cable is connected to VIN(+) and the black cable is connected to
VIN(-). Alternatively you may use a 9 to 12V power supply. The antenna is
connected to ANT(+) and ANT(-) output pins. A Morse key needed to operate
the transceiver may be connected to KEY(+) and KEY(-) pins while a small
speaker or earphone may be connected to SPK(+) and SPK(-) pins. S1-1 and
S1-2 pins are provided as a convenience if you want to bypass C12 variable
capacitor by the means of a switch during receive or transmit in order to
accomplish RIT or XIT functions.
ASSEMBLING RadiKit-180
Start construction by first identifying all the components included in the kit.
Make sure that nothing is missing and that all the indicated in the parts list
values are correct. In case of any trouble do not hesitate to contact us for help.
In order to help you identify the components all the color codes and markings
are mentioned in the parts list. First solder the resistors R1 to R5.
Finished board
Please beware that there may be differences between the components
shown in the photos and the actual components provided with the kit
because of revision and production changes. See revision list at the
end of this document.
After finishing soldering check your work and make sure that there are no
accidental solder joints between different pads or conductors on the board.
Recheck the placement of all the components and make sure that everything is
in it's correct place.
TESTING
Now it is time to check the functionality of your new QRP transceiver. Connect
2nd
digit
3rd
digit
Multiplier
Black
100
Brown
101
1%
Red
102
2%
Orange
103
Yellow
104
Green
105
0.5%
Blue
106
0.25%
Violet
107
0.1%
Gray
108
0.05%
White
109
0.1
0.01
Color
Gold
Silver
None
Tolerance
5%
10%
20%
Multiplier
10
100
1000
1000
100000
Not used
Not used
.01
.1
PARTS PLACEMENT
Revisions
Version 1.1 : R5 changed from 56 Ohm to 560 Ohm for more stable operation
of IC1.
Version 1.2 : L2 changed from 150uH to 100uH for better matching between
oscillator and power amplifier.
Version 2.0 : C6, C7 changed from 1200pF to 1.8nF. C13 changed from 750pF
to 270pF. L4, L5 changed from 3.3uH to 1.2uH. L3 changed from 5.6uH to
8.2uH. All changes relate to output band pass filter and were made in order to
obtain better frequency response.